In today’s digitally connected world, nothing spreads news, opinions, and word-of-mouth marketing faster than social media. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter connect billions of people and businesses with a simple click of the “share” button.
As a business owner, you can use social media to generate positive buzz for your organization and stay connected with your customers. And it all starts right here, with our step-by-step guide. Enjoy the "cliffnotes" view of this topic here.
Step One: Do Your Research
An effective social media strategy begins with knowing your audience—who they are and where they go for information. Take the time to research what social media platforms your customers use and how they prefer to interact on those platforms. Without these key details to inform your strategy, your posts will be dismissed as noise.
Here’s a breakdown to help you pinpoint where your customers might be scrolling and sharing:
- Facebook (Meta) is the largest multinational social media and networking platform. It is used by billions of people and businesses around the world to connect and share pictures, music, videos, articles, and opinions. Facebook is also a popular platform for staying in-tune with world news. The largest age demographic using this platform is 25-34.
- Instagram is owned by Facebook (Meta) and used primarily by individuals and businesses to share organic photos and videos, follow brands and influencers, watch entertaining videos, and even shop for new products. It is most widely used by people between the ages of 18-44.
- LinkedIn promotes professional networking and career development by allowing users to display their resume, search for jobs, share insights, and connect with others. It is most popular with professionals between ages 25-34 and 46-55.
- TikTok is a newer platform, used mostly by younger generations (ages 16-30) to express themselves by creating short videos and sharing them across a community. It is often used for entertainment, but also features short how-to, tutorial, and “life hack” videos to help users simplify their day.
- Twitter invites users to broadcast short posts (tweets) that may contain text, videos, photos, or links within a 280-character limit. It is most widely used to track trending topics including news, brands, people, and more. The largest age demographic for this platform is 18-29.
Keep in mind, your customers may use several of these platforms. Make sure your business maintains a presence on all those most relevant to your audience.
Step Two: Set Your Goals
Now that you’ve chosen your ideal platform (or platforms), it’s time to think about what you want to achieve on social media. Whether you’re trying to increase sales, promote an online newsletter, or boost awareness for your brand, it’s important to put that goal at the center of your social strategy. Every post you create should somehow tie back to your main goal.
Imagine you run a bakery specializing in gluten-free creations. Your main goal is to attract new customers by showing that your gluten-free treats are just as tasty as the gluten-filled competition.
Instagram and TikTok will be great platforms to help you achieve this goal. With these platforms, you can post mouth-watering photos and videos of your cakes, cookies, and brownies to draw more people in the door. You can even partner with influencers on these platforms to create buzz for your alternative baked goods.
When setting and pursuing these goals, it’s also important to make sure your content varies. For example, let’s say your goal is to boost brand awareness. To be truly effective, your posts should extend beyond general business information. Show the world what makes your brand special by diving deep into your culture, mission, and values. You can do this by sharing a video from a team lunch and learn, posting pictures from the company holiday party, or even sharing an inspiring article that relates to your mission. If you can quickly pinpoint how a post idea serves your overall goal, it’s fair game.
Step Three: Choose Your Software
Social media management is quite the undertaking. But it’s vital to the success of your business in the digital age.
To lighten the load, try creating content in batches. This is where building a calendar comes in handy. Plan and develop your social media content (including any copy, images, links, or videos) a month ahead. Then, all that’s left is to schedule and share. You can either tackle this process manually or invest in a software program to do it for you!
Tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Buffer are designed to house your content calendar and post on your behalf, directly to your social media pages. These platforms are designed to make social media management easier by helping you watch all your social profiles and conversations in one place. You can even access analytic information to gauge the success of your posts.
While Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Buffer all offer similar concepts, their capabilities do vary. Buffer, for example, is great for scheduling but offers limited analytics. If you’re looking to dive deep into post performance, Sprout Social will be more up your alley.
Here are a few other perks of these popular platforms:
- Hootsuite
- Customizable dashboard keeps all your social feeds in one place
- Upload and schedule posts in bulk via Excel
- Access training and knowledge with Hootsuite university
- Sprout Social
- Dive deep into analytics and social listening
- Unified inbox keeps all your social messages in one place
- Use the discovery engine to market to influencers and high-profile users
- Buffer
- Robust content scheduling engine
- Offers quick and easy UTM integration for Google Analytics
- Simple, clean interface
Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Buffer all offer multiple pricing tiers, so you can pick the best match for your business. Free versions are available for small teams. If you’re planning a larger operation, paid options range from $100-$800 per month depending on your number of social profiles and team size.
Step Four: Find Your Rhythm
Copy: Before you dive into creating content, take some time to think about your tone and post cadence. This is a key step because your social media page represents your business. If your tone is too harsh, messy, or salesy, you might be turning customers off before they even get to know you.
Let’s return to our gluten-free bakery example. This business may be best represented by a casual, friendly, cheerful tone. A law firm, on the other hand, may opt for a more direct, serious tone to convey authority. So, consider your tone carefully and put yourself in the customer’s shoes. What message, image, or video would inspire them to learn more?
Your post cadence also requires careful consideration. Post too often, and your business could be perceived as desperate or inauthentic. Post too little, and your business could be forgotten. Try posting on different days, times, and at different volumes each week. Then, analyze engagement on those posts to see what cadence gets the best results. If you’re having trouble testing your rhythm, setting your tone, or even choosing relevant content to post, visit a competitor’s page for some inspiration.
Now that you know how to create a calendar, the rest is up to you! So, bring your team together to start brainstorming post topics, video ideas, and impactful images that can get your business noticed.
Is your business using a social media calendar? We’d love to hear how things are going. Are you posting to social media, but not seeing the return you were expecting? We want to know about that too! Leave a comment below and let’s get this conversation started.